


Harvey

by erlkonig



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Domestic, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff, Gen, almost crack?, everyone loves puppies except levi, puppy, rivetra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-21
Updated: 2014-02-21
Packaged: 2018-01-13 07:16:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1217344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erlkonig/pseuds/erlkonig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Petra comes home with a puppy. Levi is not impressed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harvey

“What the fuck is that?”

Petra looked up from the squirming bundle of fluff in her arms to stare at him, aghast. 

“It’s a puppy”, she replied, as if Levi should be used to her arriving home with pets. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

Levi glared at the blonde fuzzball currently drooling all over Petra’s sleeve. “No.”

“Levi!” Petra gasped, outraged on the puppy’s behalf. She set the little creature down and it scampered over to him. He took a step back, but the stupid thing seemed to think he was playing and yapped, the shrill sound ringing in Levi’s ears, before latching its mouth around the toe of his boot.

Levi gave his foot a little shake but this only seemed to excite the animal. It was now making pathetic little squeaking and growling sounds as it wrestled with his foot. 

Petra was cooing, her hands on either side of her face. “Oh Levi, look how much he likes you! He’s _playing!_ ” There was a small puddle of drool gathering on Levi’s boot and the floor as the puppy gnawed happily. “Please can we keep him? _Please?_ ”

“No.”

“But he’s a stray!” Petra knelt and fussed the puppy behind the ears as it continued to chew. “I looked for his owners, really. He must have come through by himself after Maria was breached.”

“Petra, we’re too busy to keep a dog.”

“He could be a guard dog.”

“We live in a building that exclusively houses soldiers. We have weapons in every room. You and I are both highly skilled members of the Survey Corps. We don’t need a guard dog.”

“He’ll be good for morale.”

Levi looked highly unconvinced. “How could a stupid dog eating everybody’s uniforms possibly be good for morale?”

“Are you seriously telling me you don’t think there’s anything even a little bit cute about him?” Petra pried the puppy’s jaws from his foot and scooped the animal up, angling it’s face at Levi’s. Levi stared into the puppy’s chocolate brown eyes, bright and eager; then at Petra, who was doing a remarkably good impression of the fluffy little nuisance. Petra must have noticed some infinitesimal change in his expression, because a look of triumph flashed across her pretty features. 

“Aha!” She grinned. “You like him! You think he’s cute!”

“I do not,” Levi retorted. “I was looking at you, not the dog.”

Petra rolled her eyes. “Flattery won’t win you this one, Captain.” She patted the puppy’s head, who was gazing at Petra in devotion. “Please, let’s keep him just for a bit. We can keep looking for his owners if you want.”

Levi scowled and opened his mouth ready to tell her in no uncertain terms that there was no way in hell they were keeping it, when he was cut off by a bang echoing through their rooms, followed by hurried footsteps. Levi looked accusingly at Petra and her new pet. 

“Uh...I _may_ have invited Hanji over.”

“Fuck, please no.”

Hanji burst into their sitting room. Her eyes swept over Levi and Petra and settled on the golden ball of fur currently attempting to eat Petra’s hair. Hanji visibly took a deep breath, her hands rising to her mouth, her face taking on an almost pained expression. 

“ _Puppy..._ ” she breathed reverently. 

***

Needless to say, Levi’s protests were flattened by the combined forces of Hanji and Petra, who were now sitting on the floor playing with their (official, apparently) puppy, discussing names. 

“How about Cleek?” Hanji asked, lying on her back and holding the puppy over her head like a baby. “After the cannibal?”

“I’m not sure I want him named after a cannibal, Hanji...” Petra replied hesitantly. “He should have a nice name, his own.”

“He’s as dumb as you, Hanji,” Levi drawled from the sofa. “We should call him ‘Shitty-Four-Legs.”

Petra fixed her best glare on him, but a slight curve of her lips betrayed her. “How about Harvey?” 

“ _Harvey_ ”, Hanji sighed. 

The newly christened puppy yapped, Petra beamed, and Levi eyed them all with contempt as foreboding descended upon him.

***

Harvey had been the size of a small house cat when Petra had brought him home. Four weeks later, he stood as tall as Levi’s knees. Levi was extremely dismayed to hear that Harvey would continue to grow, both in weight and height. 

“I’m going to find his real owners”, Levi would mutter every time the animal jumped up to greet him, or left muddy footprints around their rooms, or barked its stupid yelping bark.

To her credit, Petra didn’t ask Levi to do any more than put up with their dog. 

“I wish you’d give him a chance,” she complained for what felt like the hundredth time one evening. She’d just brought Harvey in from a walk. She had said she’d be fifteen minutes, but it had been a good three quarters of an hour since she’d left their quarters. “I bumped into Erwin,” she shrugged when he asked why she’d taken so long. “He loves Harvey, he wants to teach him commands.”

“That dog will never learn anything. Look at him.” Levi pointed at Harvey, who was flinging an old sock of Petra’s into the air with his teeth and attempting to catch it on its descent.

“He learned that he needs to go outside for the toilet pretty fast,” Petra retorted.

Levi’s expression darkened in remembrance. 

“Dogs can be really clever”, Petra continued. “You just need to put some time in with them.”

***

The next morning, Petra woke up to an empty bed. This in itself was unusual - she was a natural early riser while Levi generally liked to sleep for as long as humanly possible - but what was even stranger were the sounds coming from their little sitting room.

“Sit...God fucking dammit _sit down_ you little asswipe!”

Petra rubbed the sleep from her eyes and wandered into the sitting room. She was greeted by a half dressed Levi gesturing wildly at Harvey, who cheerily trotted to Levi and jumped up, planting his paws firmly on his thighs. 

Petra couldn’t help but smile at Levi’s frustration - he so rarely got wound up. 

“How long have you been doing this for?” she asked gently. 

Levi whipped his head up towards her and crinkled his brow. “Too fucking long. I think he might be brain damaged. Erwin will never be able to train him.”

_Ah_ , thought Petra. _This might turn out quite nicely_. 

“Have you been rewarding him?”

“What?”

Petra grinned. “If you want to train a dog you’ve got to be kind to them. Hold on.”

Levi watched as Petra went back into their bedroom and returned with a chunk of stale bread.

“Do you always keep bread in our bedroom?” he asked, not bothering to hide his disgust. 

“Only when I think we’ll be training puppies”, Petra replied serenely. “Look: like this. Harvey!”

Harvey lolloped over to her. “Sit”, Petra said clearly. Harvey wagged his tail. Petra could _hear_ the smug smile on Levi’s face. “Sit”, she repeated, and this time she laid a firm hand on Harvey’s rear. The dog sat. 

“Yes! Well done Harvey! Good boy!” Petra knelt and fed him some bread, fussing like a new mother. Levi couldn’t decide whether it was sad or charming. 

***

A week later, and Levi had taken to puppy training like a duck to water, and had taught Harvey sit, stay, lie down, speak, fetch and (much to both Petra’s amusement and exasperation), fuck off. Currently she suspected he was attempting to teach the poor animal ‘kill’. On the one hand, she was pleased that Levi finally seemed to have accepted Harvey - maybe he even liked him a little bit now, she hoped desperately. On the other hand, she wondered if Levi’s determination to train him would end up with Harvey in 3DMG. 

“I like that you’re spending time with Harvey, but don’t you think you might be working him a little hard?”

“Petra,” Levi said seriously, “I hate this dog. But if we’re going to keep him, he’s going to be useful.”

Petra frowned, and decided not to remind Levi that neither of them had ever looked for Harvey’s real owners again. She stood in front of Levi, who was lounging catlike on the sofa while Harvey was curled up in his makeshift basket-turned-bed, dead to the world after what must have been some intense training. 

Petra twisted her hands around her fingers nervously. “Just don’t-”

“What?” Levi sounded frustrated. 

“Just... I don’t want him to end up like the rest of us, only good for killing things. I wanted him to be something innocent to come home to - a reward after a long day, a friend. Something that doesn’t know or care about titans or what we do.” She threw her hands up in exasperation. “Ugh, I don’t know how to put it! I just wanted him to be a pet, Levi. Someone who would love me unconditionally and who I could just play with, carefree-”

“Don’t you have me for that?”

Petra froze at Levi’s interruption. He watched as uncertainty and embarrassment clouded her eyes, before she locked gazes with him and burst into laughter.

Levi smirked, and Petra, still giggling, clambered onto his lap, straddling his thighs and resting her forearms on his shoulders. 

“I see now,” Petra grinned playfully, “You’re jealous of Harvey, aren’t you?” One of her hands was playing with his hair. “He’s been taking up all of the attention I usually reserve for you.”

“Exactly,” Levi deadpanned, trailing his fingers up Petra’s side. “I’m insanely jealous. You’ll have to make it up to me.”

Petra was already unbuttoning Levi’s shirt. “But Levi, how on earth can I do that?” She flicked her gaze up to meet his and batted her eyelashes innocently, and Levi felt his insides tilt. Grasping Petra around her waist, he pulled her closer to him, hearing her breaths quicken. He could feel her smile against his mouth as he kissed her, and wondered at how lucky he was, before he went completely still.

Petra paused and sat up with a frown. “What’s wrong?”

Levi looked pointedly around her. Petra turned. 

Harvey was sitting right behind her, resting his chin on Levi’s knee and looking at her with the dewiest eyes she’d seen in her life. Petra couldn’t help it - she burst out laughing. 

Levi made a sound close to a growl in his throat, and Petra raised her hand imperiously, pointing at Harvey’s basket. 

“Harvey,” she commanded. “Fuck off.”


End file.
